


Dangerous Games

by Tdtori



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Hunger Games AU, James is the trainer and Natasha is the tribute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 19:25:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1359067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tdtori/pseuds/Tdtori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>District Three hadn't had a winner in years, they're hoping that changes with their choice of tribute in Natasha Romanoff. The last winner, James Barnes, has to be the trainer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dangerous Games

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter is just world building and a bit boring, don't worry it'll pick up!

In most districts the tributes were chosen at random, they had no idea it was coming. 

In the career districts the tributes already knew they would be chosen, that they would volunteer for the greater good of the district. It was an honor to be chosen to volunteer and only the best girl and the best boy were chosen.

Natasha Romanoff had been so close to getting picked for the past six years. And for the past six years District Three had no victories. They had no celebrations and they had no mourning for the fallen children. Instead they trained the next to tributes even harder than before. 

Since they hadn't won for a while there was only one victor that was able to train the boy and girl chosen, James Barnes who had won the games when he was fourteen. 

The girl chosen this year was eighteen year old Natasha Romanoff, who had come from a less than pleasant beginning. She had lost both her parents in a house fire when she was young, too young to compete in the games. Now she lived with other career tributes that didn't have parents. When she had gotten the announcement that she was going to be the female tribute she was overjoyed, all her hard work had paid off.

Or had it.

Of course she had been training since before she was twelve for this moment and of course she thought that she deserved it more than anyone else, but Natasha had no idea what James Barnes was going to have in store for her.

There were only rumors of James that Natasha had heard from other wannabe tributes. That he had lost his left arm in the games and the Capitol had replaced it with a metal arm. It was rumored that the metal one made him even more deadly than before. So, it was easy to say that she may have been a little nervous of James Barnes.

"Miss Romanoff, congratulations on being chosen. Your district thanks you." His voice was monotone as he looked down at a packet that had all her information in it and how she had done in her previous training. "Your record is very impressive, I can see why they did choose you." When he did look up he saw bright red curls and wide green eyes, a girl that had to be a foot shorter than him at least.

Natasha didn't look at the metal arm, anywhere but the metal arm, luckily when he looked up she was able to meet his eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Barnes. I am honored to be chosen for this job and I can only hope that I can bring honor back to District Three." It was a strange sensation meeting someone you had only heard about, as if the illusion is shattered and they're just as human as everyone else. He wasn’t a ghost in stories, he was flesh and he was man.

He just nodded before putting the paper down. "Now, I have two of you to train, so what I'm going to do is train the male tribute in the morning and you in the afternoon. You will report to this gym everyday at noon on the dot or you will be running until I feel like you can stop, is that understood?"

"Yes, I understand." It was typical routine and what she had been doing before she was chosen. "Though is running really a good punishment?" She raised an eyebrow as if defying his orders. Running was not that big of a deal, what would be a big deal would be if he had her swim or something else that she wasn't use to.

James looked at, as if trying to figure out if she actually would want a harsh punishment. "I'll figure something out, don't you worry. Just don't be late and we won't have to figure that out, okay?"

\------

When she came back to the gym the next day, noon on the dot, he was already there doing target practice and her eyes lit up. Natasha had shot a gun before and she had used knives plenty of times, but to actually train with one would be new. 

"Good you're here." He shouted over the sound of the firing without even looking back at her. 

"How'd you know I was here?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she knew he was good, but not that he was that good. 

James put the gun down on a table and just shrugged. "I just knew." Then picked up a knife, the blade had to be at least five inches in length and it made Natasha's heart race. 

"Are we doing knife throwing?" She asked with a hopeful voice as if a child was asking for a cookie.

"No, you're going to show me how you would take me down while I have the knife." He tossed it a few times catching it by the hilt each time without fail. Natasha's eyes went back to the metal arm and she could've sworn she heard gears.

That did damper her spirit a little, but not too much because she was ready to show him what she knew. Wanted to show him that her training for almost ten years had not gone to waste and that she was the right person to represent the district, the right person to win.

Natasha immediately grabbed his right arm, the real arm, and yanked on it so it was fully extended, then pulled herself up and wrapped her thighs around his neck. It was a move she had been taught years ago and it always remained to be one of her favorites. 

"What the hell?" James swore as she rolled and landed him on his back, but that wasn't the end of it. His metal arm grabbed her neck and as she gasped he rolled on top of her. 

"Asshole." She coughed before kicking her heel into his crotch which earned her a loud groan as he moved on to his back. Taking full advantage of the situation, Natasha straddled his hips, leaned forward before fighting for the knife. But James wasn’t going to be giving up the easily, besides he had been in worse pain than that. He lost a goddamn arm for crying out loud. After struggling for a few minutes James finally ended up back on top of her and pressed his knife to her throat.

“You’ll have to be better than that if you want to win.” Was all he said before getting off of her and offering a hand to help her up.

She scoffed and refused his help, getting up on her own. “You’re the one that’s going to help me be better than that. Besides, I’ve been training my entire life, I think I’m pretty good if I say so myself. There are some tributes that have no idea how to even defend themselves for the love of god.”

"I don't care if you think you're some hot shot because you got chosen, but you are nothing and you better start thinking like that. You better start thinking of how the hell are you going to win, because it will have to be quick and easy." James threw the knife up before catching it by the hilt, just looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

A minute passed. Two minutes. And then soon it was five minutes with them just looking at each other, trying to read the other one with no success. 

"I'm allowed to be a little cocky if I want to, don't you think? Don't try and tell me that you weren't a little cocky when you were chosen to be the male tribute four years ago. You’re just a year older than me, don't you know?" Natasha crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head up to get a better look at him. 

What was so great about him? Just because he won young and had a metal arm didn't mean anything. To her, he was just one person who was going to help her. This wasn't suppose to be some competition to see who was better. 

Then it clicked. "I'm not going to lose. I have lost too much to lose my own life. Don't worry about losing two more tributes, because it's only going to be one and it isn't going to be me."

James sighed and he really did not want to talk about how it felt losing tribute after tribute and how fucking frustrating it was. Especially not to another tribute who thought she had a right to be cocky. Who hadn't even stepped into the arena before. Who hadn't even played the game. "You're playing a dangerous game and I'm not talking about the Hunger Games. Listen to me, you have no idea what it's like and I sure as hell am not going to explain it to you. Leave. We'll meet again tomorrow."

Her jaw dropped. They were done? Already? Just because they had a little skirmish. "I'm being serious. I'm not going to lose." 

Then before he could blink she was gone and from the corner of his eye he could only see a trail of red hair.


End file.
